no Liberty nor Power of Choice but where Beings have a Power to act two different ways in such a Case it is proper to give such Beings a Law to tie them up or oblige them to act only one way and for this Reason it is that among all the Creatures found in this lower World Men alone are bound to the Observation of Laws because no Creature beside is indowed with Freedom of Will and Liberty of Choice Nothing doubtless can be more unreasonable than to believe that God should give a Law to Mankind and expresly promise Rewards to them that will obey on the one hand and on the other hand threaten Punishments to them that disobey and yet believe withal that he has eternally decreed whatsoever shall come to pass so that it is not in the Power either of the Righteous or the Wicked to do otherwise than we see they do or in other Words that it is not in the Power of some to disobey so far as to damn themselves nor in the Power of others to obey so far as is effectual for Salvation for were it so that Men had no liberty or freedom of Choice in these Matters there then would need no Law to forbid Men to do what is impossible they should do or command the doing of that which they unavoidably must do Wherefore God's giving unto Man a Law is a plain Demonstration that there is in him a Freedom of Will Hence the Lord God thus speaks unto Israel See I have set before thee Life and Death Good and Evil. In that I command thee this Day to love the Lord thy God to walk in his Ways and to keep his Commandments and his Statutes and his Judgments that thou mayest live but if thine Heart turn away so that thou wilt not bear I do denounce unto you this Day that ye shall surely perish And he adds I have set before you Life and Death Blessing and Cursing therefore chuse Life that both thou and thy Seed may live Deut. 30.15 16 17 18 19. From which Words we may infer safely that God has laid upon Man no absolute Necessity of being either happy or miserable but he deals with them as with Persons who have from him a Power to obey or disobey as themselves by the Power of those Faculties they have from him do best please only he tells them what the Consequences either of Obedience or Disobedience will be that Life shall be the Reward of the one and Death of the other and withal that his Desire and Will is that they should choose Life and not Death The Words of David unto Solomon do also plainly imply this free Agency of Man And thou Solomon my Son saith he know thou the God of thy Father and serve him with a perfect Heart and willing Mind If thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever 1 Chron. 28.9 as do likewise the Words of the Prophet Azariah unto Asa And he said unto him Hear ye me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin The Lord is with you while ye be with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you 2 Chron. 15.2 And we find accordingly that the Scriptures do most abundantly declare that both Vertue and Vice are the Effect of our own free Choice and for this Reason we are commanded not to envy the Oppressor and that we should choose none of his ways Prov. 3.31 And therefore Mary is said to have chosen the good Part which should never be taken from her Luke 10.42 And it is also written Thus saith the Lord unto the Eunuchs that choose the things that please me I will give them an everlasting Name Isa 56.4 5. On the other hand it is said They did Evil before mine Eyes and chòse that wherein I delighted not Isa 65.12 They have chosen their own Ways and their Soul delighteth in their Abominations Isa 66.3 Ye will not come to me that ye might have Life Joh. 5.40 My People would not hearken unto my Voice and Israel would none of me so I gave them up to their own Hearts Lust Psal 81.11 12. They would none of my Counsel they despised all my Reproof Prov. 1.30 O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thee as an Hen gathereth her Chickens and ye would not Mat. 23.37 All which wholly lays the Guilt of Sin upon the Sinner's Wilfulness they chose to do ill when they might have chosen to do well as others did by virtue of those Powers which God had given them Hence 't is said that to whom ye yield your selves Servants to obey his Servants ye are to whom ye obey whether it be of Sin unto Death or of Obedience unto Righteousness Rom. 6.16 Which plainly implies that 't is our own voluntary Act that makes us Servants either to God or the Devil as for God 't is plain that he necessitates no Man to serve him he gives to all Men a Power to obey his Will but he will not force them to obey whether they will or no he could force them to do so if he pleased but his infinite Wisdom does not think it fit yea should he do so he would then deprive them of the Advantage of those Rewards which his Goodness has been pleased to promise to that true Love which only can be manifested by a free and unconstrained Obedience But as for the Devil his Power does not extend so far as to force any Man to do wickedly he can tempt indeed but he cannot necessitate for God is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able 1 Cor. 10.13 Do but resist him with that Ability that God has given thee and he will fly from thee Jam. 4.7 Men do not sin for want of Power to do otherwise but because they will not use the Power that God has given them If God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able then 't is our willingly yielding to the Devil when we had Power to resist that makes us the Subjects and Slaves of Sin 'T is manifest that every Man has a Power to do that which God has made him able to do and God does not require more of any Man If there be a willing Mind saith the Scripture it is accepted according to what a Man hath and not according to what he hath not 2 Cor. 8.12 He that improved his two Talents was kindly accepted as well as he that did improve his five Talents see Mat. 25. Be sure to make the best Use that thou canst of the Powers that thou hast and then if thy present Powers are not sufficient to enable thee to make thy own Calling and Election sure God will not sail at last to give thee that Power that is sufficient for he has made a Promise unto Men by the Mouth of our Blessed Lord that more
God who will have all Men to be saved and to come to the Knowledg of the Truth 1 Tim. 2.1 4. And that the Grace of God that brings Salvation hath appeared unto all Men Tit. 2.11 That Christ is a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World 1 Joh. 2.2 That he gave himself a Ranson for all 1 Tim. 2.6 That he tasted Death for every Man Heb. 2.9 And that as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift came upon all Men to Justification of Life Rom. 5.18 Now from thes plain Scriptures 't is evident that no particular Man's Damnation is unavoidably decreed by Go If Men die the Death eternal their Destruction is from themselves and not from him When he made the Generations of Men to dwell upon the Face of the Earth he made them free Agents that is to say he gave them a Power either to do or not to do what he did intend to command them but withal he let them know that if they did disobey they should be punished for their so doing and that if they did obey they should for ever be blessed It was not his purpose therefore to damn any Man absolutely but conditionally in case he should so far abuse the Powers he had given him as wilfully to commit Sin when he might as well have forborn it Now the Truth of this is evident from many plain and undeniable Testimonies For eternal Punishments are only denounc'd against Men in Case of Wickedness God's Decrees are that the Soul that sins shall die Ezek. 18.4 And that all should be damned who believe not the Truth but had Pleasure in Vnrighteousness 2 Thess 2.12 And that if Men live after the Flesh they shall die but if on the contrary they through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body they shall live Rom. 8.13 And therefore he faith Whosoever sinneth against me him will I blot out of my Book Exod. 32.33 By the Sins and Wickednesses then which Men commit they make themselves Reprobates 't is because of these things says S. Paul that the Wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience Eph. 5.3 6. God hathsworn that some shall notenter into his Rest But to whom swear he that they should not enter into his Rest but to them that believe not Heb. 3.18 All which shews that God reprobates none but suh as by Sin are the Authors of their own Damnation and therefore 't is said of the wicked Jews O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Hos 13.9 To say therefore that God is the chief and principal or main Cause of Man's eternal Destruction is a Notion you see which is contrary to Scripture and is therefore an Error 'T is also an Error because 't is built upon such a Sense of Scripture as we have all the reason in the World to disbelieve for that can never be the true Sense of God's Word which naturally tends to debase the Glory of the Justice and Righteousness of God but this those Notions do which these Men do build on these mistaken Senses of Scripture for they tell us that as God has decreed the End of those whom he has resolv'd to reprobate so he has also decreed the Means which shall bring them to that End that is to say he has decreed that they shall unavoidably be Sinners that so he may manifest the Rigour of his Justice in punishing them for being wicked But were this true it would be so far from exalting that it would plainly debase the Glory of the Justice of God among Men for according to all the Notions which we have of Justice nothing can be more unjust and cruel than first to lay an unavoidable Necessity upon a Man to do ill that so with a seeming Justice he may be tormented for being wicked Should one Man do so to another we should count him unjust in the highest and shall Man be more just than God Job 4.17 Then and then only is the Justice of God glorious when he punishes Men for wilfully refusing to do that which he has made them sufficiently able by one means or other to perform This Reprobating Notion of theirs does make the Gospel a meer piece of Nonsense for the Gospel tells us that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in Christ's Name to all Nations Luke 24.47 And that God does command all Men every where to repent Acts 17.30 But all this the Predestinarian Doctrine opposes as an impossible Thing a useless Precept for it declares that none of them whom God has decreed to reprobate can repent and become good Men for he has decreed they say that those Men shall be Sinners that so he may bring on them in a way of Justice that eternal Death to which he has foreappointed and designed them all which say they no Endeavours sof theirs can prevent for the most profound Repentance which they can perform will never reverse what God has thus doom'd them to by an eternal and irreversible Decree Which Doctrines are a plain Contradiction to that express Command of God that all should repent They have been also the dreadful Occasion of all that Horror and Despair which has been found in a great Number of men who have been afflicted with doubting and troubled Minds and has occasioned others to entertain in themselves very hard Thoughts of God for such Notions as these do make God seem worse to some Men than the Devil for the Devil they know can force no Man to sin he can only tempt and endeavour to perswade but God according to these Notions of the Predestinarians does force and compel Men to sin by an absolute Decree that so the Damnation he has design'd them to may appear more Just All which are the occasion of very hard and evil Thoughts concerning God in those who under Despair are apt to think themselves of the Number of those whom he thus has reprobated which evil and wicked Surmises concerning God had for ever been prevented had not these Doctrines been taught in the World On the contrary 't is evident beyond Contradiction that the opposite Doctrine does much more advance God's Honour because it teaches that 't is possible for all Men to repent and become good Men and herein saith Christ is my Father glorified that ye bear much Fruit John 15.8 It likewise tends more to advance the Interest of Religion which consists in every Man 's being perswaded to live a sober righteous and godly Life and it is also a Doctrine which is every way more truly conducive to the good of Souls because it declares that all Men may be happy if they will but diligently improve that Talent of Grace that God has given them in order to the working out of their own Salvation and the making their own Calling and Election sure 'T is plain to every common Man's Understanding that those Doctrines which teach
I know endeavour to perswade the World that the Doctrine of Free-Will does encourage Men to Wickedness because they say it makes many think that if God has given Men a Power to repent when they will that therefore they may sin as long as they please and repent at last but in this they are strangely mistaken for tho we teach that Men who have not hardned their own Hearts by many repeated Acts of wilful and malicious sins against God may repent if they please at any time yet we don't teach that Men can live as long as they please and we know that when Life ceases then the Opportunity of Repentance ceases also God that promises Pardon whenever we sincerely repent has not promised us a To morrow to repent in and no Man who rightly believes that there is in Man a Free-Will will be so mad to say I will yet sin on one Week longer and then repent when for ought he knows his Death may come this very Day and prevent his so repenting Thus 't is plain that no Free-willer who truly understands the Nature of the Doctrine which he professes can sin without being sensible of the Danger of Damnation whereas the opposite Perswasion plainly infers that Disobedience can never make void the Decree of God to save them that are elect or in a State of Salvation even in spite of their own resistance so that 't is evident a Predestinarian may sin with some Confidence and Comfort but the Free-willer always sins under great Discouragement from his own Principles there being in his Faith nothing that can yield him any Security in his so doing I will conclude this Point by asking the Predestinarians this one Question as I before have done under some of the other Heads Suppose all Mankind that believe the Gospel and endeavour to live up to it should be perswaded that 't is possible for those that are in a State of saving Grace to fall from it and should they by virtue of this Perswasion be careful through the Divine Assistance not to fall from their own Stedfastness 2 Pet. 3. 17. nor fail of the Grace of God Heb. 12.15 and so live good and pious Lives what hurt would this do either to the Interest of Religion or the Good of Souls Where is the Impiety or Perniciousness of such a Faith and Practice that the Predestinarians should so long and so loudly exclaim against it I am sure 't is a Faith that all truly good Men practise and which he Adversaries do themselves teach in all their Exhortations to a vertuous and godly Way of living Of the Period of Humane Life The Predestinarians teach likewise that the Period of humane Life is unchangeably fixt by God so that no Man can either live longer or die sooner than he does but this is also an Unscriptural Doctrine as well as unreasonable and therefore an Error The Scriptures do plainly imply that by Wickedness Men may cut their Lives short and that by Righteousness Mens Lives may be prolonged Thus 't is said The Fear of the Lord prolongeth Days but the Years of the Wicked shall be shortned Prov. 10.27 Again as Righteousness tendeth to Life so he that pursueth Evil pursueth it to his own Death Prov. 11.19 Again 't is said Evil Doers shall be cut off but those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the Earth Psal 37.9 Besides these Testimonies 't is evident that in many Places of Scripture Wickedness is threatned with a short Life thus 't is said Bloody and deceitful Men shall not live out half their Days Psal 55.28 Be not overmuch wicked neither be thou foolish for why should'st thou die before thy time Eccles 7.17 LOng Life is also promised to Goodness and Vertue as thus My Son forget nto my Law but let thine Heart keep my Commandments for length of Days and long Life and Peace shall they add unto thee Prov. 3.1 2. Because he hath set his Love upon me therefore I will deliver him with long Life will I satisfy him and shew him my Salvation Psal 91.14 16. Happy is the Man that findeth Wisdom and the Man that getteth Vnderstanding she is more precious than Rubies and all things that thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her length of Days is in her right Hand and in her left Hand Riches and Honour Prov. 3.13 15 16. Hear O my Son and receive my Sayings and the Years of thy Life shall be many Prov. 4.10 Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy Days may be long in the Land Exod. 20.12 Thus you see the Scriptures do plainly confute this foolish Notion And as the Scriptures confute it so the universal Voice of Nature is against it or that which we call the Law of Self-preservation and indeed 't would be utterly in vain to make Laws to punish common Murders yea and King-killers too with Death if 't were not possible for those that are so killed to live any longer and to say that a Man that is executed upon a Gibbet for any Crime should have died that very Moment had he not done those things that brought him to the Gallows is perfect Nonsense and yet this must have been if the Period of every Man's Life were so irrevocably fix'd that he could neither live longer nor die sooner than he does Besides this Doctrine has been of pernicious Consequence to many who in Sickness out of a false Perswasion that they should not die before their time as they call it have neglected to seek the Means which by God are appointed to heal the destructive Infirmities of Nature and so they have died before they attained to that extent of Days which God has allowed unto Mankind even that Period which ends with old Age in which through a natural Decay of Strength we are rendred unable any longer to subsist And thus having gone through what I did intend to say on these several Heads I shall conclude by only adding that the Reason of my making this publick to the World is not out of ill-will to any Man's Person who does profess these Doctrines but out of a Desire to convince them all of their Error and that I may express that sincere Love and just Esteem which I bear to many of this Perswasion who in the Belief of so ill a Faith do yet live a sober good Life hoping that hereby I may do some good to them for whom I have so great a Kindness by thus endeavouring to perswade them not to trust on such an unsecure Foundation as is that of the Doctrine herein confuted Besides all which it may possibly be that hereby divers contending Parties may be induc'd to a more easy Reconciliation as to the Matters in difference between them by which means the Peace and Unity of this Church may be advanced which at this time is so necessary in order to the making us better able to resist both the publick and private Enemies of this protestant